The Sunday Mirror links us with a £2m move for Matthew Etherington in the summer.

This story seems a little far-fetched for me. Etherington only joined Stoke from West Ham in January and, from what I’ve seen, has done pretty well at the Britannia Stadium. The paper says he’s unhappy in Potteries and would jump at the chance of returning to London and playing alongside his mate Simon Davies.

But there’s very little fact in the story. We obviously are keen to bring in a left-sided player in the summer as it’s been a bit of a problem position ever since Boa left. Could we not be setting our sights a little higher than Etherington? And would Roy really want to take a chance on a player who’s got a very public gambling problem? We should get a chance to see just how good Etherington is at the Cottage next Saturday.